DFA Updates

Take Action

Across the country, Doctors for America is advocating for the expansion of Medicaid in states that have previously rejected funding and educating the public about the new insurance options now available. We’re holding press conferences calling on red state governors to accept the federal funding and educating our neighbors at churches and community events. We know Americans are confused about the ACA and our doctors are here to help ease their concerns and set the facts straight.

If you only read ONE thing: Drs. Michael Stillman and Monalisa Tailor expressing what many DFA doctors feel: Dead Man Walking.

Stanford School of Medicine chapter organized their second annual Docs Run event to raise funds for their free clinic and for DFA’s Race for Coverage Campaign. About 80 people ran the event and they raised nearly $8,000. Of the chapter’s success, California State Director Dr. Senger said, the med schools are becoming the “foundation of DFA here in California and it's such a beautiful thing to see them really take off.”

FLORIDA

Dr. Mona Mangat penned a column in the Tampa Bay Times in response to Generation Opportunity’s campaign to discourage our nation’s youth from getting health insurance: Doctor's orders, young people: Get insurance. “A shameful campaign is under way to discourage our nation's youth from getting health insurance. As a mother of four young children and a doctor, I hope our young people will be smart enough to take care of themselves and ignore these dishonest efforts.”

KANSAS

Dr. Margaret Kozel writes and op-ed in the Manhattan, KS Mercury: One doctor’s tale of two states. “Obviously, the people of Kansas made different choices, and turned down the Affordable Care Act’s federal money that would have funded 100 percent of expansion for the next three years, then dropping to 90 percent. You have such serious misgivings about it that you decided that one in six people in your state will have to remain uninsured. We all know that doesn’t mean they won’t need health care. Mothers will put off mammograms and fathers will not get their blood pressure treated. If they develop appendi-citis or skid into a truck on the highway, they will quickly run up huge medical bills they can’t pay, and the taxpayers of Kansas will pick up the tab.”

NORTH CAROLINA

Doctors inGreensboro urged Gov. Pat McCrory to expand Medicaid. Dr. Seanta Clark attended the Charlotte press conference with Protect Your Care to and called for a special legislative session to reconsider the state’s decision to reject the federal funding.

OHIO

State Director Dr. Donald Nguyen and the DFA family celebrated Ohio’s decision to move forward with Medicaid expansion: “This is a win-win for all Ohioans. Medicaid expansion has been proven to save lives and will alleviate doctors and hospitals from the burden of providing uncompensated care. It will also provide $12 billion of economic relief over 6 years, along with providing additional jobs to the state of Ohio in the health care sector.”

And Dr. Nguyen was quoted in the local paperresponding to Speaker John Boehner’s Ohio press conference: “Nguyen said the law will help small businesses by providing access to the health insurance marketplace. He said the health care law doesn’t include mandates for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, but if they choose to begin offering insurance to their employees, a provision included in the law would provide tax credits.”

SOUTH DAKOTA

AP: South Dakota Doctors Urge State to Expand Medicaid Program: “[Dr. Daniel] Heinemann said if Medicaid is not expanded, low-income people without insurance will continue to get expensive care in hospital emergency rooms, and hospitals will shift the cost of unpaid bills to patients with private insurance… ‘We know that people who are uninsured are more likely to live longer and have healthier lives,’ he said.”

TEXAS

State Director Dr. Anna Tran and team Texas held a Dallas 13.1 half marathonRace for Coverage help raise awareness and funding for the new affordable health insurance options available to Texans. Doctors, health care providers, patients and supporters of access to affordable care.

VIRGINIA

Dr. Chris Lillis penned a piece about the confusion over cancelled health insurance policies: “With all sincerity, I apologize to those who have heard over and over again, including from me, that ‘if you like your plan, you can keep it’ if you are among those that experiences a different reality. It remains my belief that we will be better off as a nation with the Affordable Care Act and even those who do not qualify for subsidies will directly and indirectly benefit in the years to come.”

Share Your Comments

Let us know what you think!

Your Comment

Name:*Email:*Website:Is water wet or dry?*Comment:*

Connect

Doctors for America is a national movement of physicians and medical students working together
to improve the health of the nation and to ensure that everyone has access to affordable,
high quality health care.